After temporarily handling the affairs of the servant army, Pan Xiaogu turned to ask about other military affairs.

Previously, because of the need to reorganize the servant army, the large army stopped outside the city of Rezwan to rest, and sent a small force of cavalry to reconnoiter the city of Canalan, more than 100 kilometers west of Rezwan. The city of Canalan was the main target of the next phase of the campaign in Panxiao Valley, an important Persian stronghold in the province of Khazar and the largest city in the eastern part of the province.

With a population of more than 50,000 people, mainly Persians, Çanaran was an important military stronghold under the command of the governor of Khorasan, where more than 5,000 Persian troops were originally stationed, and after the Seljuk invasion of Persia, these Persian regular troops were transferred one after another, and now there are only more than 1,000 people left in the city.

After the death of the original governor, the lord of Canaran refused to recognize Ardashir's status as the governor of Khorasan, and had openly rebelled before the winter, and began to expand his armaments, successively recruited 3,000 conscripted troops in the city, and hired more than 1,000 mercenaries through caravans, plus the original 1,000 Persian regular troops in the city, with a total strength of more than 5,000 people.

When Pan Xiaogu conquered the cities of Gilholz and Rezwan, Redmond also led the army and conquered seven or eight steppe tribes around Canaland, and collected a large number of cattle and sheep and 3,000 herdsmen and cavalry from these tribes.

The Scout Battalion's intel also mentions that Redmond was a Norman from Europa, and that he had an unstoppable army of more than thirty Norman knights with him, dressed in heavy chain mail and armed with spears and swords.

Pan Xiaogu originally had no intention of attacking Canalan City, this is a fortified city, and there are many defenders, so it is a hard bone to gnaw. However, in terms of the desire for expansion shown by Redmond, even if he doesn't provoke the other party, the other party will come over, and Pan Xiaogu wants to control the strategic purpose of Tus City in advance, so he must first cut off the threat of Redmond.

What is now beneficial to the Five Rivers Army is that Redmond is not aware of their existence yet, and Pan Xiaogu is ready to take advantage of this advantage and pit Redmond.

"How's the preparation going over there?" Pan Xiaogu asked

"The men who pretended to be caravans have been gathered, and the goods to be used as bait have been almost ready, all silk and porcelain, as well as some gold and silver goods, from the homes of nobles and merchants who refuse to cooperate." Pan Xiaogu's plan was to lure Reykmund to attack the city of Razwan and annihilate its main force against the city.

"Pay attention to hiding these valuables in ordinary goods, don't be stupid and expose them outside, no caravan will do that, who is the leader of the caravan, this person is very important." After the planned bait is revealed, the leader of the caravan is likely to come into direct contact with Redmond and spread false information in front of them, so it is very crucial.

"The leader of the caravan is Gitak, he turned out to be the local caravan leader, he has been operating in the north, and there are people who know him in most of the cities, so he will not arouse the suspicion of others."

Is it him again? Pan Xiaogu still remembers this Hu man who surrendered first.

"Is Gitak reliable? He was well-connected in the North, and he was likely to take advantage of the opportunity to escape, and I remember that he was too timid to show anything to Redmond. "Pan Xiaogu is not very relieved of this Hu man Getak.

Lu Dingbang flipped through the information in his hand and found information about Gitak

"My lord, this Gitak seems to have the intention of defecting to the Tang Dynasty, and he has been very cooperative, and the staff officers thought that this person could be trusted after evaluation, so they selected him as the leader of the caravan."

"Huh? Show me his information. "Pan Xiaogu only met Gitak once when he attacked Gilholz City, and it was to threaten him to assist the gates of Kerezwan City, and he didn't pay much attention to this Hu man after that.

Pan Xiaogu took Gitak's information and looked at it carefully

"I'm still a Sogdian!" After the Anshi Rebellion on the New Earth, the Sogdians, who had rebelled with An Lushan, fled from Anxi's homeland and have not been heard from since. The remaining Sogdians also chose to blend in with the Han Chinese, so there was no longer a Sogdian nation in Anxi, so Pan Xiaogu couldn't help but be a little surprised to see a nation that had disappeared at this time, and suddenly appeared in front of him again.

"It seems that the Sogdians did not die out, but simply chose to hide among the Hu." Pan Xiaogu remembered the Turkic name of Gitak and guessed some of the hidden secrets.

"This Gitak is a descendant of the Sogdians, and they have a great enmity with the Han Chinese, so how can they think of taking refuge with us?" The information is relatively simple, mainly to introduce the situation of the original Chamber of Commerce of Jitak and the identity of his Sogdians, but the specific surname of the Sogdians is not mentioned at all in the information.

Lu Dingbang called the staff officer in charge of making the assessment and asked him to explain to Pan Xiaogu in person

"My lord is like this, this Gitak has always wanted to do Silk Road trade, but the commodity channels from the Tang Dynasty are controlled by the Persian clans, and it is his turn at all. This operation needs a local merchant as the leader, and his subordinates thought of Gitak, so they tricked him into saying that as long as he can complete this task, he will be allocated a part of the commodity quota in the future, and let him be the trade agent of our Five Rivers Army. This Gitak immediately agreed, and also took the initiative to confess his identity as a Sogdian, and even confessed his two own nephews in the caravan to us as hostages, so his subordinates thought that this person would not choose to betray our army for the benefit of the Silk Road trade for the time being. ”

"A group of mercenary guys, for the sake of profit, they can even let go of national hatred and family hatred, and even betray their relatives." Pan Xiaogu despised Geetak's behavior very much, but this did not prevent him from taking advantage of the other party's greed, anyway, this Hu man didn't know that Wuhe Town actually didn't have a source of Datang commodities in his hands, well... Anyway, the staff didn't say that the quota of goods given to him was such a sought-after commodity as silk and porcelain.

"It's okay to use Gitak, a local merchant, but you must take precautions, this man is mercenary, and he must be prevented from betraying our army in order to get more profits." Pan Xiaogu finally agreed to have Gitak as the leader of the decoy caravan

"Don't worry, my lord, we have been prepared, none of the people that Gitak brought to Canalan this time are his original subordinates, all of them are the most loyal people selected from the servant army, and there are also a few brothers of our Five Rivers Army who are secretly mixed in, and they are always monitoring every move of this Hu man." The staff officer said their arrangement.

Pan Xiaogu nodded with satisfaction

"Very good, when you are ready, let's do it immediately!"